Alleged perpetrator admits birthing slain newborns

Monday

Sep 2, 2013 at 2:33 PM

According to court documents, a Clarkfield woman who was interviewed at her home on August 13 in a homicide investigation has admitted to giving birth to two babies whose remains were discovered late last fall on property located on Fish Lake in Deuel County in eastern South Dakota. The property, which is northwest of Hendricks and southwest of Canby, is owned by a member of her family, court documents say.

Staff reports

According to court documents, a Clarkfield woman who was interviewed at her home on August 13 in a homicide investigation has admitted to giving birth to two babies whose remains were discovered late last fall on property located on Fish Lake in Deuel County in eastern South Dakota.
The property, which is northwest of Hendricks and southwest of Canby, is owned by a member of her family, court documents say.
Kelly Jean Anderson-Person, 34, formerly of Hendricks, was interviewed at her home at 804 9th Avenue in Clarkfield on Tuesday, August 13 by two South Dakota investigators in the homicide case. Anderson-Person is now subject to a civil commitment hearing after she pulled a gun from between sofa cushions and pointed it at her head while holding her infant child with her other hand. According to civil commitment documents filed in Yellow Medicine County, the investigators were able to disarm her in a struggle and no one was injured.
Yellow Medicine County Family Services filed the petition for commitment which states that during an interview with investigators, Anderson-Person acknowledged being pregnant in 2009 and 2011 and also acknowledged that the infant remains found in South Dakota were babies she had birthed.
There is no indication in the document to indicate whether or not there was any discussion about how the death of the babies occurred or about how their remains became located in a line of trees on the family property.
Anderson-Person, also known as Kelly Jean Johnson and Kelly Jean Anderson in other court documents, has been held at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar since August 13. She was originally held under an emergency admission and waived her right to a preliminary hearing which had been scheduled for August 21. According to the civil commitment filings in Yellow Medicine County. she will be held until a commitment hearing this Friday before Judge Thomas Van Hon at the Chippewa County Courthouse in Montevideo. She is being represented by court-appointed attorney Theresa Walton Patock of Willmar.
The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation has been leading the homicide investigation since the discovery in November of the remains. The property where the remains were found is owned by a relative of Anderson-Person, and there is a cabin there that she has permission to use, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Yellow Medicine County. The affidavit also detailed eight leads that investigators followed that stated Anderson-Person had appeared pregnant at two different times in recent years yet did not later have a baby.
Court records reviewed earlier this week showed that there have not been any criminal charges filed in Minnesota against Anderson-Person and also that there have not yet been charges filed against her in South Dakota. Not all documents in the matter have been made public.